Michael Allen

Join the Missouri History Museum for a Beer and History Tour of Soulard

Here at Gut Check, we love St. Louis history. A large part of it revolves around beer. The Missouri History Museum (Lindell Blvd. & DeBaliviere Avenue; 314-746-4599) is taking advantage of this city's love of beer with their History on Tap tours that examine early St. Louis neighborhoods and the w ... More >>

History in a Bottle

Pevely Dairy Site: After Long Fight, Why Doesn't Saint Louis University Have a Plan? (PHOTOS)

What's going on with the Pevely Dairy complex? Not a whole lot, it seems, much to the frustration of preservationists and other groups that fought to stop Saint Louis University from demolishing the landmark complex on South Grand Boulevard. Several university spokespeople did not respond to Daily ... More >>

Wash. U., City Team Up For Vacant Land "Ideas Competition"

There's a new ideas competition afoot in St. Louis; but win this one and you might get yourself a sort of highly coveted vacant lot. The latest--Sustainable Land Lab competition, which is being funded by Wash. U. and city hall -- asks creative types to dream up sustainability-related projects for ... More >>

Pruitt-Igoe Getting Second Life with Tours, Creative Projects

Most St. Louisians worth their salt know the myth of Pruitt-Igoe: a huge public housing complex opened in the mid-1950s to replace slum apartments, demolished just 20 years later in disrepair.   But interest in the 33 acre vacant lot that remains has spiked recently, following the release ... More >>

Demond Meek's iPhone Shots of Crumbling STL Get International Attention

Another absorbing entry in the "ruin porn" genre: Professional lens-wielder Demond Meek recently went around his native St. Louis to document architectural decline. He used only his iPhone and uploaded to Instagram. On Friday, the Mail Online -- the most visited website on the entire planet -- ran a ... More >>

A Comprehensive Guide to Record Store Day 2012

This just in: Vinyl is BACK! Now in its fifth year, Record Store Day has made its international mark, recognized by labels, bands, and collectors worldwide. Celebrating the cultural impact of the independent record store, RSD offers everything from live performances to special discounts to limited e ... More >>

St. Louis Brick Thieves Becoming More Brazen

​The bandits who are slowly dismantling north St. Louis -- brick by brick -- are becoming more daring these days. Architectural historian Michael Allen, who has perhaps written more than anyone on the subject of brick thievery, notes on his blog that the mason rustlers are now working heavily traf ... More >>

Tosh.O Lampoons St. Louis Brick Documentary, Pleases Filmmaker

stlbrickfilm.comSt. Louis Brick: No laughing matter, see?​After nearly two years of work, Bill Streeter is finally concluding his documentary on St. Louis architecture, Brick By Chance and Fortune. And before its release, the the film is getting a lot more coverage than anticipated. The national w ... More >>

Got a Plan for Pruitt-Igoe? St. Louis Preservationists Want to Hear It

image viaDo you have any idea what to do with these 37 acres?​Since 1977, when the last remnants of the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project were destroyed, most of the 57-acre site at the corner of Cass and North Jefferson avenues has lain dormant. Some developers, notably Paul McKee of NorthSide Deve ... More >>

[Update] South Grand Del Taco Gets Facebook Love -- But Could Get Demolished Anyway

photo by Laura Miller​Update: By attending the meeting of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, Daily RFT's Albert Samaha called the bluff of more than 9,000 enraged citizens who like the "Save St. Louis Del Taco" Facebook page. Would they show their opposition to the bill that would create a commu ... More >>

Taming the River Des Peres, a.k.a. "The World's Most Gigantic Sewer"

preservationresearch.comThe River Des Peres circa the early 1900s.​Local architecture historian Michael Allen is out with a fascinating article on the River Des Peres, published on his site Ecology of Absence. Among the things I learned reading Allen's piece is that St. Louis' great, open-air stor ... More >>

Curtain Goes Down on Ivory Theatre "Horror Show"

Jennifer SilverbergPerrino and Allen in happier days at the Ivory.​Ever since it opened three years ago, the Ivory Theatre in Carondelet has been beset by controversy. Aggrieved theater companies have accused the Ivory, specifically its general manager Donna Perrino, of negligence and general mism ... More >>

Chicagoans Continue to Broaden Horizons, Explore St. Louis

image viaIntrepid Chicagoan Blair Kamin.​To a Chicagoan, the state of Illinois south of Joliet is nothing but a lot of cornfields, except maybe for Champaign-Urbana, and St. Louis is just a teeny, tiny blip on the distant horizon. But when an intrepid Chicagoan dares to cross those nearly 300 ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Michael Allen Has a Radiohead License Plate, a Cat Named Gibby Haynes and a Thing for Weird Vinyl

Jon Scorfina​The cultural sea change of downloading has not stopped Michael Allen's quest for vinyl LPs. A collector since childhood, Allen showed an early interest in this column and emailed us to be profiled. Though he is a self-proclaimed vinyl "junkie," it hasn't stopped him from taking ad ... More >>

Tuesday Tussle: Part 2, Keegan Is Wrong, We Need a New Memorial Drive

citytoriver.orgLook at this "gaping wound" of a highway​Keegan, there's a reason why smoothing access between Downtown and the Arch appeals to a bunch of smart people at: the Partnership for Downtown St. Louisthe Post-Dispatch Editorial Boardthe City to River organization the National Park Service ... More >>

A Blogger's Baker's Dozen: The RFT staff presents a sampler of St. Louis' must-read contributors to the blogosphere

North Side Rancor: A quartet of legal eagles aim to shoot down Paul McKee's grandiose vision to regenerate St. Louis

Post-Dispatch Readers Grumble Over Jury for New Arch Grounds Design

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elasticsoul/ / CC BY-SA 2.0​Here are the folks who'll get to decide how the Arch grounds will look in 2015 (the year the monument turns 50). Commenters at stltoday.com are grumbling about one of them. Can you guess which one?Robert Campbell, architecture critic at The ... More >>

Why is St. Louis Never Ranked as a Progressive City? Is It Because We're Too Black?

Portland: A place white people like.​Those are the questions essentially posed by urban affairs blogger Aaron Renn in his latest posting, titled "The White City." Renn takes a look at the mid-sized cities of Portland, Austin, Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis that are routinely hailed as being ... More >>

To Preserve and Protect: Esley Hamilton has a boundless passion for St. Louis' architectural past

Brendan Ryan, Sully Sullenberger, Eric Holder Among Finalists for Mustache Award

Brendan Ryan reacts to news that he's a finalist.​The St. Louis-based American Mustache Institute has just released the finalists for its annual Robert Goulet Memorial Award, honoring the man (or woman) who's done the most this year to promote and uphold the mustache as a lifestyle/fashion stateme ... More >>

Do They Have A Time Machine?

Last time we checked in on the saga of the San Luis Apartments in the Central West End, a St. Louis circuit court judge had just ruled that the Archdiocese could demolish the building to construct a parking lot and that local preservationist groups had no right to stop them.Seems like a pretty clear ... More >>

Adios San Luis: Judge Rules In Favor of Demolition of CWE Apartment Building

stlouispatina.blogspot.com​In deciding the controversial fate of the San Luis Apartments in the Central West End today, Judge Robert Dierker ruled that local preservation groups have no say in deciding whether a building should or should not be demolished. In this case in particular, the judg ... More >>

More North-Side-Land-Grab Paranoia!

stlcin.missouri.org/forsaleIf you're freaked out about massive land-grabs on the north side, this might fuel your fears slightly. Remember how the Post-Dispatch reported on June 7 that a holding company called Urban Assets LLC had snatched up 240 properties on the north side?And that Urban Assets wa ... More >>

Cool Idea o' the Day: dArt St. Louis

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bogdansuditu/ / CC BY 2.0Somebody recently rounded up 100 St. Louisans. Made them fling a dart at a map of the city. Gave them a month to travel to that spot and snap a photograph. Posted the photographs online at dartstlouis.com. (The Daily RFT got wind of this from Mic ... More >>

Board of Aldermen Approve Subsidy for Kiel Opera House

flickr.com/photos/dduckworthEd Golterman, your ship has come in. This morning, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved a plan to subsidize $29 million of the $74-million redevelopment plan for the Kiel Opera House. The city's money will come from an amusement tax on Blues hockey tickets. Developer ... More >>

Has Oktoberfest outgrown its lederhosen? Plus: Mourning Dom DeLuise, cashing in on the All-Star Game, and spotting signs of spring.

Signs of Spring in St. Louis: Ted Drewes, Cardinals Baseball and Brick Thieves

flickr.com/photos/peteashtonThe days are getting longer and warmer. Perfect time to work in the garden, take in a ball game, eat ice cream and participate in that oh-so-St-Louis activity, brick rustlin'. As preservationist Michael Allen reports in his blog Ecology of Absence, the brick thieves are o ... More >>

Waiting for the Gateway Mall

Sowing Pains: Bowood Farms nursery's expansion plan spreads seeds of discontent in the Central West End

Churches Coax Paul McKee Out of Hiding

Phantom of the Hood, Part 2

A local developer continues to gobble up land on the city's north side.

Phantom of the Hood

Who are Blairmont Associates — and why are so many north St. Louis residents mad at them?

Comings and Goings

Say farewell to cine16 -- then say hello again in January!

Letters

Week of January 12, 2005

All the Young Punks

The Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center relieves social constipation, one ear-splitting roar at a time

Guilt by Association

Week of December 19, 2001

Letters

Week of July 4, 2001